This opinion is subject to administrative correction before final disposition.

Before 

MONAHAN, STEPHENS, and DEERWESTER

Appellate Military Judges

_________________________

UNITED STATES

Appellee

v.

Jose A. RIVERA

Lance Corporal (E-3), U.S. Marine Corps

Appellant

No. 202000111

Decided: 19 August 2021

Appeal from the United States Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary 

Military Judge:

Jeffrey V. Munoz

Sentence adjudged 25 November 2019 by a special court-martial 

convened at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, consisting of a military judge sitting alone. Sentence in the Entry of Judgment: reduction to E-1, confinement for 60 days, forfeiture of $1,120 

per month for 2 months, and a bad-conduct discharge.

For Appellant:

Captain Kimberly D. Hinson, JAGC, USN

For Appellee:

Lieutenant Gabriel K. Bradley, JAGC, USN

Lieutenant Kevin G. Edwards II, JAGC, USN

Senior Judge STEPHENS delivered the opinion of the Court, in which 

Chief Judge MONAHAN and Judge DEERWESTER joined.
United States v. Rivera, NMCCA No. 202000111

Opinion of the Court

2

_________________________

PUBLISHED OPINION OF THE COURT

_________________________

STEPHENS, Senior Judge:

Appellant was convicted, consistent with his pleas, of willful disobedience 

of a lawful order from his superior commissioned officer, wrongful use of 

cocaine, and wrongful introduction of cocaine onto an installation used by the 

armed forces in violation of Articles 90 and 112a, Uniform Code of Military 

Justice [UCMJ].1

Appellant’s sole assignment of error asserts the Government violated his 

due process rights by a delay in post-trial processing. He requests we set 

aside the bad-conduct discharge as a remedy. Having carefully considered the 

record of trial and the parties’ submissions, we are convinced the findings 

and sentence are correct in law and fact and that no error materially 

prejudicial to the substantial rights of Appellant remains.2

I. BACKGROUND

Appellant’s Case was Delayed Between Announcement of Sentence 

and Docketing with This Court

On 25 November 2019, Appellant was arraigned and pleaded guilty at a 

special court-martial comprised of a military judge sitting alone. After 

accepting Appellant’s pleas and finding him guilty, the military judge 

admitted eight Prosecution exhibits, including a stipulation of fact and a 

statement made by Appellant to the Criminal Investigative Division

admitting to cocaine use. Two Defense exhibits were admitted. Appellant

called four telephonic witnesses. Two of the witnesses were former Marines

who served with Appellant; the other two were his mother and sister. The 

testimony was brief with limited cross-examination. Appellant also gave an 

unsworn statement. The military judge heard argument on sentencing, 

deliberated, and after a brief recess announced the sentence. The entire 

proceeding took just under four hours. The trial transcript was only 131 

pages.

 

1 10 U.S.C. §§ 890, 912a.

2 Articles 59(a) & 66(c), UCMJ.
United States v. Rivera, NMCCA No. 202000111

Opinion of the Court

3

Just over two months later, the court reporter certified the transcript. 

Appellant did not submit any clemency matters, so 112 days after the guilty 

plea, the convening authority “took action” when he wrote “I take no action 

on the findings or sentence in this case.” The military judge, 15 days after the 

convening authority’s action [CAA], and 127 days after the guilty plea, 

completed the Entry of Judgment [EOJ]. The record of trial [ROT] amounted 

to about 230 pages of documents, including the trial transcript. 

A few days later, on 3 April 2020, 130 days after the guilty plea, another 

court reporter certified that the ROT contained all the required items under 

Rule for Courts-Martial [R.C.M.] 1112(f), and that the transcript accurately 

reflected the pleas, findings, and sentence. Finally, on 15 April 2020, the 

certified ROT was forwarded from Camp Pendleton, California, to the 

Administrative Support Division of the Office of the Judge Advocate General

[Code 40]. Once Code 40—located at the Washington Navy Yard in the same 

building as this Court—had the certified ROT, it was sent to this Court and 

docketed. The docketing occurred 151 days after the announcement of 

sentence. Thus, the undisputed timeline of the post-trial processing:

25 November 2019 Announcement of Sentence at Trial

16 March 2020 Convening Authority’s Action 

(112 days after announcement of sentence)

31 March 2020 Entry of Judgment 

(127 days after announcement of sentence)

3 April 2020 Certification of ROT

(130 days after announcement of sentence)

15 April 2020 ROT Forwarded to Code 40

(142 days after announcement of sentence)3

 

3 This information is not readily apparent in the paper or electronic ROT. However, pursuant to Article 140a, UCMJ, and Dep’t of Def. Dir. 5145.01, General Counsel 

of the Department of Defense (GC DoD), para. 5. (Ch. 2, Jan. 30, 2015), the General 

Counsel of the Department of Defense prescribed uniform standards and criteria for 

the military justice system. See Dep’t of Def. Gen. Couns., Memo. for Sec’ys of the 

Mil. Dep’ts, Uniform Standards and Criteria Required by Article 140a, Uniform Code 

of Military Justice (UCMJ), (Dec. 17, 2018). One of the standards is the requirement 

for each military service to maintain and operate a military justice case processing 

and management system. One of the mandatory data fields to record is the date the 

certified ROT is forwarded to the appropriate reviewing authority. Id., app. A., para. 

120. For the Department of the Navy, the military justice case processing and 

management system is currently the interim “Wolverine” database, where the date 

the ROT in this case was forwarded to Code 40 is recorded. We consider such 
United States v. Rivera, NMCCA No. 202000111

Opinion of the Court

4

24 April 2020 ROT Docketed with this Court

(151 days after announcement of sentence;

39 days after CAA;

24 days after EOJ;

21 days after certification of ROT;

9 days after forwarding of ROT).

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review and the Law

We review speedy post-trial review claims de novo.4 In United States v. 

Moreno,5 the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces [CAAF] held that “due 

process entitles convicted service members to a timely review and appeal of 

court-martial convictions.”6 Moreno provided relief to a Marine whose posttrial processing and appeal took 1,688 days (four years, seven months, and 14

days) from the day his sentence was announced. Indeed, he was likely 

released from confinement on his six-year sentence before this Court even 

affirmed his conviction—a conviction CAAF later set aside owing to a 

prejudicial legal error during member selection. In Moreno, it took about 

seven months for the military judge to authenticate the 746-page ROT, and 

an additional nine months for the convening authority to take action. After 

that, it took over two more months to get the case docketed with this Court. 

Once with this Court, owing largely to “other case load commitments” from 

Moreno’s detailed appellate defense counsel, this Court granted a total of 18

enlargements of time for his Brief and Assignments of Error to be filed. The 

total time granted was just shy of two years (702 days). The Government filed 

its Answer about six months later. Once both parties’ pleadings were filed, 

this Court issued its opinion about six-and-a-half months later. CAAF held 

that this timeline demonstrated unacceptable delay and violated Moreno’s 

due process rights.

 

information an electronic attachment for appellate review, similar to the type of 

information listed in R.C.M. 1112(f)(1). See also R.C.M. 1112(f)(1) Discussion (“The 

record of trial and attachments may include electronic versions of any matters.”). For 

a discussion of when attachments (previously, “matters attached to the record” and 

earlier, “allied papers”) may properly be considered on appeal, see United States v. 

Jessie, 79 M.J. 437, 440–41 (C.A.A.F. 2020).

4 United States v. Moreno, 63 M.J. 129, 135 (C.A.A.F. 2006).

5 Id.

6 Id. at 132 (citing Toohey v. United States, 60 M.J. 100, 101 (C.A.A.F. 2004)).
United States v. Rivera, NMCCA No. 202000111

Opinion of the Court

5

CAAF then judicially established three post-trial deadlines that, if not 

met, would trigger analysis of speedy trial and post-trial rights as set forth in

the Supreme Court’s decision in Barker v. Wingo.7 The CAA—which was then 

the terminal “action” in the post-trial processing—must be taken within 120 

days of the completion of trial (Moreno I); the ROT must be docketed by the 

service court of criminal appeals within 30 days of the CAA (Moreno II); and

appellate review must be completed and a decision issued within 18 months 

of docketing the case at the court of criminal appeals (Moreno III).8 Since 

then, this Court has virtually eliminated Moreno III violations and the Navy 

and Marine Corps have done likewise with Moreno I and II violations.9

B. The Military Justice Act of 2016

When Congress passed the Military Justice Act of 2016 [MJA 16],10 it 

altered, among other things, the post-trial process. Specifically, the terminal 

benchmark for post-trial processing at the trial level was no longer the CAA. 

There was also a newly-created EOJ process, by which the military judge 

summarizes each charge and specification, the pleas, findings, sentence, and 

other basic information about the trial. The EOJ, under R.C.M. 1111(a)(2) 

“terminates the trial proceedings and initiates the appellate process.” 

Quickly, the question arose whether to measure the end of the Moreno I 

timeline from the date of the CAA or the EOJ or some other date? Another 

question was whether to combine the Moreno I and Moreno II timelines and 

just measure the period between announcement of sentence and docketing 

with a service court of criminal appeals as one event, or two segmented 

events. A final question was whether CAAF’s Moreno timelines still mattered

or had they been superseded by MJA 16. The final question is more easily 

answered, as we now hold that Moreno I and Moreno II were both superseded 

by MJA 16, but the other questions were not quite as easily answered.

 

7 407 U.S. 514 (1972).

8 63 M.J. at 142.

9 According to the last three Reports to Congress (FY18, FY19, and FY20) from 

the Services, this Court has had only four Moreno III violations out of 868 cases 

reviewed. There have only been 24 Moreno I and 4 Moreno II violations, respectively. 

Reports available at Joint Service Committee on Military Justice website: 

https:/jsc.defense .gov/Annual-Reports/ . This change is also owed to the personnel reorganization, case assignment process, and leadership of “Code 45,” the Navy and 

Marine Corps Appellate Defense Division.

10 Pub. L. No. 114-328, § 5324, 130 Stat. 2000, 2927 (codified at 10 U.S.C. § 860c 

(2018)).
United States v. Rivera, NMCCA No. 202000111

Opinion of the Court

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Our sister court, the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals [AFCCA], held 

that it would “apply the aggregate standard threshold [from] Moreno; 150 

days from the day Appellant was sentenced to docketing with this court.”11

This neatly combined Moreno I and Moreno II. AFCCA predicated this on the 

observation that the new MJA 16 post-trial procedures, as laid out in R.C.M. 

1109–1112, were no longer as clear for determining what constituted 

unreasonable delay prior to docketing with the appellate court. In another 

opinion,12 AFFCA noted that an Air Force Instruction required a “completed 

[ROT] within 120 days of sentence . . . and forwarding of the [ROT] to the 

office for processing appellate review within 14 days of completion.”13 In that 

case it was, understandably, unclear to AFCCA whether the relevant 

measurement was the 38 days between EOJ and docketing or the 45 days 

between CAA and docketing. And when the entire time period between 

conclusion of trial and docketing was a mere 58 days—far short of the 

aggregate 150 days for a combined Moreno I and Moreno II timeline— the 

court found it unnecessary to analyze a separate Moreno II violation.

Another sister court, the Army Court of Criminal Appeals [ACCA], followed AFCCA’s approach. In United States v. Brown,14 ACCA “collaps[ed] 

[Moreno I and Moreno II] into a consolidated 150-day period.”15 As ACCA 

explained, “this focuses less on the nuts and bolts of when specific events 

occur within the larger post-trial process by establishing definitive starting 

and end points, specifically final adjournment and docketing with this 

court.”16

On 6 September 2019—more than two months prior to announcement of 

sentence in this case—the Navy Judge Advocate General [JAG] issued an 

Instruction on Post-Trial Processing for the Navy and Marine Corps.17 With 

respect to timelines, the Instruction provides:

 

11 United States v. Livak, 80 M.J. 631, 633 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. 2020).

12 United States v. Moody-Nookum, 2019 CCA LEXIS 521 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. 

Dec. 19, 2019) (unpublished).

13 Id. at *5 (citing Air Force Instr. 51-201, Administration of Military Justice, 

para. 20.2.2.–.3 (Jan. 18, 2019)).

14 81 M.J. 507 (Army Ct. Crim. App. 2021).

15 Id., 81 M.J. at 510.

16 Id.

17 Dep’t of the Navy, Judge Advocate General / Cmdr Navy Legal Service Cmd 

Instr. 5814.1D, Post-Trial Processing, (Sep. 6, 2019).
United States v. Rivera, NMCCA No. 202000111

Opinion of the Court

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For all courts-martial resulting in appellate review under Article 66(b)(3), 

UCMJ, (automatic appeals) the government must ensure: (1) the certified 

ROT together with all required attachments is forwarded as soon as 

practicable after the Entry of Judgment (EOJ) to OJAG Administrative 

Support Division (Code 40), and in all cases the certified ROT and all 

required attachments must be completed and forwarded for appellate review 

within 120 days of the announcement of sentence (Post-Trial I), and (2) the 

case is docketed at the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals 

(NMCCA) within 30 days after forwarding (Post-Trial II). The NMCCA will 

then issue an opinion, ordinarily within 18 months after the case is docketed 

(Post-Trial III).18

This departs from the Army and Air Force’s judicial consolidation of 

Moreno I and Moreno II for purposes of Barker v. Wingo analysis and retains 

the tripartite nature of Moreno. Further, it replaces the CAA as the terminal 

Moreno I event with the forwarding of the certified ROT to this Court.

However, the Department of the Navy instruction is similar to the Department of the Air Force’s approach in its instruction, in establishing various 

metrics, such as the time to complete the ROT, that do not trigger a due 

process analysis if not met.

C. There is No Prejudice in This One-Day Delay in Post-Trial 

Processing

Only Moreno I and Moreno II are at issue here, or what the JAG Instruction now captions as “Post-Trial I” and “Post-Trial II.” Appellant argues the 

EOJ has replaced the CAA as the terminal event for Moreno I [Post-Trial I]

calculation and thus, the 127 days between trial and EOJ amounted to a 

violation.19 But Moreno I and Moreno II were superseded by statute and the 

JAG Instruction now dictates administrative deadlines for Post-Trial I and 

Post-Trial II. The JAG Instruction makes the forwarding of the certified ROT, 

and not the CAA and not the EOJ, the terminal event for the Post-Trial I 

phase. Here, that amounted to 142 days, which exceeded the JAG Instruction’s 120-day Post-Trial I benchmark by 22 days. And the Post-Trial II 

timeline—the time between forwarding of the ROT and docketing with this 

Court—was only nine days, well below the Post-Trial II metric of 30 days. So, 

while there was a 22-day “violation” of the JAG Instruction for the Post-Trial 

I timeline, there was no corresponding violation of the JAG Instruction’s 

 

18 Id. at para. 4(a)(1).

19 In the alternative, Appellant argues that if the CAA was the terminal event for 

Moreno I, then the Moreno II timeline suffered from a nine-day delay.
United States v. Rivera, NMCCA No. 202000111

Opinion of the Court

8

timeline for Post-Trial II. Combined, the total Post-Trial I and Post-Trial II 

timeline was 151 days.

The JAG Instruction says these administrative tasks “shall” be completed 

within the prescribed timelines, but does not list, or even suggest, a judicial 

remedy. We now hold that we will only test for prejudice when the total PostTrial I and Post-Trial II timeline—the time between announcement of 

sentence and docketing with this Court—exceeds 150 days. Adopting the logic 

and reasoning of our sister courts, we will test for prejudice under the 

familiar test from Barker v. Wingo. This allows the JAG to measure and 

monitor the administrative tasks necessary for efficient and timely post-trial 

processing, while allowing this Court to enter the field only when there is a 

bona fide possibility of a violation of an appellant’s due process right to 

speedy post-trial processing. In addition, we further hold that the remaining 

Moreno III time standard—the time between docketing with this Court and 

issuing our opinion—is untouched by MJA 16. We will continue to apply the 

Moreno III “presumption of unreasonable delay where appellate review is not 

completed and a decision is not rendered within eighteen months of docketing 

the case before the court of Criminal Appeals,”20 particularly as it pertains to 

prejudice analysis.

Because the Government did not docket this case within 150 days of the 

announcement of the sentence, we test for prejudice under Barker v. Wingo. 

The four factors under Barker, are (1) the length of the delay; (2) the reasons 

for the delay; (3) the appellant’s assertion of the right to timely review and 

appeal; and (4) prejudice.21 We recognize that none of the four factors has any 

“talismanic power. Rather, we must . . . weigh all the factors collectively 

before deciding whether [an accused’s] right to a speedy [post-trial processing] has been violated.”22

The one-day delay in the aggregate Post-Trial I and Post-Trial II timeline 

is de minimus. The Government gives no reasons for the delay. Appellant 

concedes he did not assert his right to timely review.23 He was unconfined 

and on appellate leave during almost all of his post-trial processing. Neither 

he, his trial defense counsel, nor his eventual appellate defense counsel had 

reason to assert his right to timely review of his case during the post-trial 

processing period because their understandable presumption would have 

 

20 Moreno, 63 M.J. at 142.

21 Id. at 135 (citing Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 530 (1972)).

22 United States v. Wilson, 72 M.J. 347, 354-55 (C.A.A.F. 2013).

23 Appellant’s Br. of June 25, 2020, at 6.
United States v. Rivera, NMCCA No. 202000111

Opinion of the Court

9

been that his case was being processed in a normal and timely fashion and, 

more importantly, he was not suffering any prejudice during the time his 

case was being processed. 

Finally, “Prejudice . . . should be assessed in the light of the interests of 

[accuseds] which the speedy [post-trial processing] right was designed to 

protect.”24 We, therefore, examine the question of prejudice in light of three 

important interests the Supreme Court identified in Barker: (1) to prevent 

oppressive pretrial incarceration; (2) to minimize anxiety and concern; and 

(3) to limit the possibility that an accused’s post-trial review will be impaired.25 “Of these, the most serious is the last, because the inability of [an 

accused] to adequately to prepare his case skews the fairness of the entire 

system.”26

Appellant concedes, and we agree, that only the second Barker factor 

might apply.27

Appellant’s claim that he suffered prejudice due to anxiety and concern is 

supported solely by cursory statements in his briefs: “[he] had no information 

about his case situation and as a drug-offender his access to government 

benefits is severely limited under Texas law,”28 and upon commencement of 

appellate leave after the CAA, “[t]rade school was no longer available to 

him.”29 We find no evidence in the record supporting that these claims of 

prejudice are due to the aggregate post-trial processing violation of one day.

Appellant did not even realize his case was delayed by a day between 

announcement of sentence and docketing with this Court. Moreover, 

Appellant’s mere assertions of prejudice seem to be tied more to the collateral 

consequences of his guilty plea—which would not constitute grounds for 

relief—than to any delay in his post-trial processing. The one-day post-trial 

processing violation presented no appreciable impediment to Appellant’s 

ability to mount an appeal to this Court. Therefore, in balancing the Barker 

factors, we conclude Appellant was not denied his right to speedy post-trial 

processing.

 

24 United States v. Mizgala, 61 M.J. 122, 129 (C.A.A.F. 2005) (quoting Barker, 407 

U.S. at 532) (internal quotations omitted).

25 Barker, 407 U.S. at 532.

26 Mizgala, 61 M.J. at 129 (quoting Id.).

27 Appellant’s Br. of June 25, 2020, at 7.

28 Id.

29 Appellant’s Reply Br. of July 29, 2020, at 4.
United States v. Rivera, NMCCA No. 202000111

Opinion of the Court

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Finally, Appellant has not shown prejudice from the delay, and the delay 

itself is not so egregious as to “adversely affect the public’s perception of the 

fairness and integrity of the military justice system.”30

III. CONCLUSION

After careful consideration of Appellant’s assigned error, the record of 

trial, and the parties’ submissions, we conclude the findings and sentence are 

correct in law and fact. Accordingly, the findings and sentence are AFFIRMED.

Chief Judge MONAHAN and Judge DEERWESTER Concur.

FOR THE COURT:

RODGER A. DREW, JR.

Clerk of Court

 

30 Toohey, 63 M.J. at 362.